Type-writing machine.



G. H. SMITH.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 6, 1909.

Patented May 7, 1912.

2 BHEETSSKEET 1.

FIGZ.

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WITNEESES: INVENTUFQ:

H15 ATTEIRNEY G. H. SMITH.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 6, 1909.

INVENTEIR:

Patented May 7, 1912.

2 sums-sum 2.

u/wwzt Wm HISATTEIR'NEV UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. SMITH, 0F NUTLEY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR. T0 UNION TYPEWRITER COM- PANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 7, 1912.

Application filed November 6, 1909. Serial No. 526,559.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. SMITH, citizen of the United States, and resident of Nutley, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in TypeWVriting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to typewriting machines and more particularly to the paper feed devices thereof.

My invention has for its principal object to provide an improved construction of paper fingers designed more especially for front-strike typewriters and in which the construction is simple, convenient and efficient.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an end elevation on an enlarged scale of the platen frame of a front-strike typewriter having my invention applied thereto, parts being omitted and parts in section. Fig. 2 is a view of the same in vertical section on the line 0000 of Fig. 3 and showing some parts not shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front view on a reduced scale of the parts shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view of a certain square rock shaft employed in my construction with parts of the mounting of said shaft shown in section. Fig. 5 is an isometric view on an enlarged scale of one of the paper fingers.

I have shown my invention applied to a Remington visible typewriter. This machine has a shiftable platen frame having end pieces 1 connected together at the rear by a rod 2 and at the bottom by a frame bar 3. A platen 4 has a shaft that is journaled in the end pieces 1 and which is provided with the usual line spacing devices, finger wheels, etc. The platen frame also carries front and rear feed rolls (3 and 7 The platen frame is mounted for shifting motion up and down on a carriage truck which is not shown but the construction of which is well known in the art. The roller 8 is journaled on a stud 9 projecting from the frame bar 3, and this roller runs on a shift rail or track 10 which is moved up and down by means including a shift key, the platen frame moving up and down in unison with said rail 10.

I have shown two paper fingers each comprising an arm or plate 11 of sheet metal bifurcated at its upper end, forming two arms or branches 12 which are bent around a pivot pin or axle 13 which forms the support for a small paper feed roller 14 which bears against the front face of the platen somewhat above the writing line, which writing line in this machine is on the front face of the platen. Each of the paper fingers is mounted on a square rod or rock shaft 15, there being two of these rock shafts, one for each paper finger. Said rock shafts are situated some distance below the writing line and a little in front of the platen as shown in Fig. 2. Each of said rock shafts is formed at its inner end with a reduced cylindrical part 16 that is journaled in one of the arms 17 of a bracket 18 which is secured by screws 19 to the front face of the frame bar 3 of the platen frame. The front feed roll (3 is made in three sections, one of which comes at the middle of the platen and the two arms 17 are here shown spaced apart a suflicient distance to allow said section of the feed roll 6 to pass between said arms 17, more especially when the feed rolls are cast off from the platen to release the paper. The outer end of each of the shafts 15 is formed with a cylindrical part 20 which is journaled in a thimble or sleeve 21 that is threaded into the end piece 1 of the platen frame. The extreme outer end of each of the rock shafts is formed with a squared part 22 and a threaded hole 23 is formed axially in the end of the shaft. An angled lever having a rearwardly extending arm 24 and an upwardly extending arm 25 is mounted on the squared end 22 of the shaft where it is secured in position by a screw 26 threaded into the hole 23. The shaft is put into the machine by inserting it through the threaded opening designed to be occupied by the thimble 21; and the end 16 of the shaft is inserted into the arm 17 of the bracket 18 after which the said thimble is threaded into the end plate 1. This can be done either before or after the mounting of the lever 24, 25 on the end of the shaft. The rear end of the arm 24 has connected thereto one end of a spring 27, the other end of which is secured to a screw 28 which passes loosely through a suitable hole in an ear 29 projecting from the end plate 1. The coils of the spring 2? lie between the threads of the screw 28 so that the tension of said spring can be regulated by turning the screw and drawing the lower end of the spring downward. The rocking of the shaft 15 and the parts connected thereto is limited by a pin 30 projecting from the end piece 1 into a hole 81 considerably larger than the pin. The parts are normally held in the position shown in Fig. 1 by the tension of the spring 27 and the arm 25 is shaped into a handle which can be pulled toward the front of the machine so as to rock the shaft 15 and the bell crank toward the front against the tension of the spring 27.

The lower part of the arm 11 of the paper finger is bent toward the front of the machine as shown in Fig. 5 at 32, thence downward in front of the shaft 15 as shown at thence under the shaft as shown at 34, thence up and behind the shaft as shown at 35 and thence forward over the top of the shaft as shown at 36. This bending of the sheet metal thus results in a sort of square sleeve that fits over the shaft and forms a slidable and non-rotative mounting for the paper finger; that is to say, the paper finger can be slid along the shaft but cannot turn to a material extent independently of the shaft. The paper finger fits the shaft with suflicient accuracy to cause the paper finger to turn with the shaft but it preferably is not tight on the shaft, so that said paper finger can be easily slid longitudinally of the shaft to adjust it for different widths of paper. This square tube is prolonged toward the right in the ease of the righthand paper finger and toward the left in the case of the left-hand paper finger and each of said tubes has near its outer end an ear 37 bent off therefrom toward the front of the machine. The rods 15, as shown in the drawing, are actually square in cross section, but of course any other cross section would answer the purpose that allowed the fingers to be slidably and non-rotatively mounted. It will be seen that these paper fingers pass through the horizontal plane of the Writing line; and if through some care lessness of the operator one of said paper fingers was allowed to come in front of the printing point, it would be in position to be struck by the types, which might result in injury to the paper finger or to the type or to the ink ribbon. In order to prevent these paper fingers from ever coming in front of the printing point, a bracket 38 is provided against which the ear 37 would strike just before the paper finger reaches the printing point. This bracket is made of sheet metal of the quadrilateral outline shown in Fig. 8 and having ears 39 bent back therefrom and secured by screws 40 to the lower rear part of the shift rail 10. The bracket 38 extends from the shift rail at an inclination upward and toward the front of the machine and the cars 39 extend upward and toward the rear of the machine so that the shift rail is received in a sort of trough in the bracket. The upper part of the bracket 38 comprises a cross bar 41 and two cars 12 which spring from the ends of said cross bar Ill and are spaced a suitable distance apart so as to arrest the cars 37 of the paper fingers at the proper time. In order to bring the arms 42 into proper relation with the cars 37 each of said arms is bent outward as shown in Fig. 2 at 43, to bring the upstanding parts of the arm 42 forward of the cross bar 41. It will be un derstood that the printing point is about midway between the two arms or ears 42. In Fig. 3 the carriage is shown at the left of the middle of its travel.

If, when the operator is writing, he fails to notice that one of the paper fingers is approaching the printing point, said paper finger will strike the arm 42 and will be arrested, either allowing the shaft 15 to slip through it, or if the friction between the parts is sufficiently great, arresting the carriage itself. This construction is also convenient for the purpose of adjusting the paper fingers. If the machine has been used with a narrow piece of paper and it is desired to push the paper fingers out toward the end of the platen, this may be done Very rapidly by pressing the key that releases the carriage from its escapement mechanism and simply moving the carriage to the extreme right and left-hand limits of its motion. The paper fingers will Strike the arms 42 and will be arrested but the carriage Will be forced on to the end of its motion, thus forcing said paper fingers to the ends of the platen.

The handles 25 are useful to release the paper fingers for the purpose of adjusting the paper and also for adjusting the paper fingers themselves. It will be understood that the paper fingers are pressed against the front face of the platen by the tension of the springs 27 acting through the square shafts 15. This makes a good deal of friction between each of the square sleeves of the paper fingers and the shaft, which restrains the paper fingers against lateral displacement and also makes the paper fingers a little hard to push along the shafts for the purpose of adjustment. By pulling forward on the handle 25 this pressure and the resulting friction are relieved and the paper finger can be slipped easily along its shaft to any desired position.

It will be noted that the two paper fingers are mounted on independent shafts and are controlled by independent springs, the tensions of Whichare independently adjustable. It results from this that moving one of the paper fingers toward the front of the machine does not lessen the tension on the other. For example. if there is a greater thickness of paper under one paper finger than there is under the other, the tension of the two paper fingers remains the same, the one that is moved forward by the extra thickness of paper not affecting the other paper finger.

Various changes can be made in the details of construction and arrangement without departing from my invention.

hat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 1* 1. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, two rock shafts parallel to said platen, one near the right-hand part of the platen and the other near the left-hand part of the platen, each of said shafts having one bearing near one end of the platen and another near the middle of the platen and each of said shafts being held against endwise motion; two paper fingers, one slidably and non-rotatively mounted on each of said shafts; and springs for turning said shafts independently to press said paper fingers toward said platen.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen; two rock shafts parallel to said platen, one near the right-hand part of the platen and the other near the lefthand part of the platen, each of said shafts having one bearing near one end of the platen and another near the middle of the platen and each of said shafts being held against endwise motion; two paper fingers, one slidably and non-rotatively mounted on each of said shafts; springs for turning said shafts independently to press said paper fingers toward said platen; and adjustable means for regulating the tension of said springs.

3. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen frame, a. plated mounted in said platen frame, two rock shafts parallel to said platen, one near the right-hand part of the platen and the other near the lefthand part of the platen, each of said shafts having one bearing near one end of the platen and another near the middle of the platen and each of said shafts being held against endwise motion, a paper finger slidably and non-rotatively mounted on each of said shafts, springs for turning said shafts to press said fingers toward said platen, and.

handles for turning said shafts against said springs.

4. In a front-strike typewriting machine, the combination of a platen frame, a platen having the writing line at the front thereof, two rock shafts journaled in said platen frame below the writing line, one shaft at the right and the other at the left of the middle of the platen, two paper fingers slidably and non-rotatively mounted on said shafts, one on each shaft, and springs for turning said shafts to press said paper fingers toward the platen, said springs acting through said shafts on said paper fingers.

5. In a front-strike typewriting machine, the combination of a platen frame, a platen having the writing line at the front thereof, two rock shafts journaled in said platen frame below the writing line, one shaft at the right and the other at the left of the middle of the platen, two paper fingers slidably and non-rotatively mounted on said shafts, one on each shaft, springs for turning said shafts to press said paper fingers toward the platen, and handles for turning said shafts against said springs, said springs acting through said shafts on said paper fingers.

G. In a front-strike typewriting machine, the combination of a platen frame, a platen mounted in said platen frame and having the writing line at the front thereof, a bracket at or near the middle of said platen frame, two rods or shafts each ournaled at one end in said bracket and at its other end at one end of said platen frame, paper fingers slidably and non-rotatively mounted on said rods or shafts, and springs for turning said rods or shafts to press said paper fingers toward said platen.

7. In a front-strike typewriting machine, the combination of a platen frame, a platen mounted in said platen frame and having the writing line at the front thereof, a bracket at or near the middle of said platen frame, two rods or shafts each journaled at one end in said bracket and at its other end at one end of said platen frame, paper fingers slidably and non-rotatively mounted on said rods or shafts, springs for turning said rods or shafts to press said paper fingers toward said platen, and handles for turning said rods or shafts against said springs.

8. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen frame, a platen mounted in said platen frame, a rock shaft parallel with said platen, a paper finger slidahle and non-rotatively mounted on said rock shaft, a two-armed lever at one end of said rock shaft, and a spring acting on one of the arms of said lever and operating to turn said shafts to press said paper finger toward the platen, the other arm of said lever constituting a handle for turning the shaft.

9. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen frame; a platen mounted in said platen frame; a threaded opening in said platen frame; a square shaft having a bearing part at one end and a cylindrical bearing part at the other end; a thimble city of New York, in the county of New constituting a bearing for said cylindrical York, and State of New York, this 5th day part, said thiinble threaded into said openof November A. D. 1909.

mg; a bearing for the other end of said GEORGE H. SMITH. 5 shaft; and a paper finger slidably and non- Witnesses:

rotatively mounted on said shaft. J. B. DEEvEs,

Signed at the borough of Manhattan, CHARLES E. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

